Flybo Arrives on U.S. Shores (UPDATED)

Have a hankering for a nice, compact electric car but don't have the patience to wait out the Smart Car? Well, if you live in or close to Saginaw, Michigan, you're in luck: the Great Lakes Auto Sales dealership will start selling the Flybo-EV within the next few weeks.

The mini EV, powered by a 48-V motor, will come with a base sticker price of $10,000 and can run for up to 70 miles before needing some extra juice - which can be supplied by any conventional household electrical outlet. It's not the zippiest car on the road (its top speed is a puny 25 mph) and it only has rear-wheel drive, but Wuzheng, its corporate parent, is betting that Americans' renewed interest in lower fuel consumption will prove the dealbreaker. That, and the fact that it totally knocks off the popular Smart Car.

UPDATE: Michael Papp, Wuzheng North America's Managing Director, wanted to clarify that the aforementioned dealership has no relation to it or its corporate parent, Spark-EV.